


Correlation

by unwindmyself



Series: curious shapes shift in the dark [27]
Category: True Blood
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, F/M, Female Friendship, Fix-It, Gen, Vampire Family, Vampire Politics, agency and choices!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-08
Updated: 2014-02-08
Packaged: 2018-01-11 14:43:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1174316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unwindmyself/pseuds/unwindmyself
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Willa briefs the rest of the family on the governor's plans and is in turn briefed by her aunt on some matters of the family's history.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Correlation

**Author's Note:**

> Part five, "Until We Bleed."

Once Willa’s cleaned her face (newborns are always so messy) and they’ve made sure her meal is on his way elsewhere, the family congregates around the dining room table, Eric and Nora at either end, Pam and Tara on one side, Jessica and Willa on the other.

Nora, Pam observes, has paper and pen out for taking notes.  Of course she does.

“Why don’t you begin with what you told me last night?” Eric says to Willa (seated on his left, Pam to his right).

Willa nods, frowning slightly.  “My – my old dad,” she starts, figuring that’s the least awkward way to put it.  “He’s got this camp set up all secret, where they take all y’all – all of us – who get arrested.  ‘Cept it’s not jail, it’s – it’s a fuckin’ science experiment is what it is.”

“A what?” Jessica echoes.

“They’ve got doctors there studyin’ vampires,” Willa continues.  “So they ‘understand them better’ or some shit, but what that means is –”

“So they understand how to kill us better,” Tara surmises.

“Bloody brilliant,” Nora mutters, scribbling this all down.

“So he’s doin’ this ‘cause of what Bill pulled off?” Jessica murmurs.

“Who’s Bill?” Willa asks right back.

“My Maker,” Jessica says, at the same time that Pam smacks Eric in the arm and hisses, “You didn’t explain that to her?”

Eric groans.  He couldn’t very well have given her the whole story in the hours between his making off with her and the sunrise, could he?  Instead of saying anything, he just passes it off, nodding at his sister, who’s much better at summaries than he is anyway.

“For a variety of reasons, which I’ll get into later, Bill is the one responsible for orchestrating the bombings of the TruBlood factories and setting off this rash of killings,” Nora says, very calmly.

“Oh,” Willa says, suddenly a little bit overwhelmed.  It hadn’t really occurred to her that any of them might have a personal connection to any of this, she’d just thought that they were really adamant about making things safe again, and now that she knows a little more she’s not entirely sure what to do with it.

“Point is, he’s the bad guy too,” Jessica declares.

“Well, my – the governor,” Willa shrugs (she also sort of figures maybe calling him that is less weird now, because he’s not really her father anymore, is he?  Not the one that counts).  “He didn’t put any of it into play till after all that, but he’s had it planned for ages.  This was just an excuse.”

“Fear-mongering,” Tara concludes.  “Awesome.”

“So we find the camp and take it down, dealing with the governor in the process,” Eric says.

“We need a better plan than that,” Nora rolls her eyes.  After a moment she glances to her niece, and trying for a much more careful tone, she asks, “I don’t suppose there are prisoners who’ve been released from this place?”

“I don’t think so,” Willa frowns.  “Maybe.  I haven’t been to look around, and it’s not like I’ve heard everything, but I…”  This is just dawning on her now, but it suddenly seems like a great idea.  “So obviously _I_ can’t go back to headquarters and get files, but I know people who could.  I could get a hold of them?”

Eric and Nora raise eyebrows at each other.  “And get their help?” Eric supplies.

“Or something,” Willa says.  “Glamour ‘em if I have to, right?  Or – _oh_ , I need to call Mallory, she could –”

“Mallory?” Pam interrupts.  “What the hell’s a Mallory?”

“My old roommate,” Willa explains.  “Anyway, what I’m thinking – so there was this younger guy on the staff who was into her, right?  Met her a couple times when he was bodyguarding my dad around while he was visiting me at school or whatever.  I know she invited him to this party tomorrow, and I could go too, then I could get him to get into the files and stuff.”

“It’s more of a plan than we had a minute ago,” Pam says, sounding a little bit like she’s surprised it’s not total shit.

“It’s something,” Eric agrees.  “I don’t want you going alone, though.”

“I’ll go with,” Jessica offers immediately.  She’s had brushes with college parties recently enough, that kind of thing’s old hat for her now.  And it’s not that she doesn’t appreciate the others here, but she’s getting a little stir-crazy.

It’s Pam and Tara’s turn to exchange glances now.  “Yeah, me too,” Tara adds.  She may be a younger vampire than Jessica, but she’s better in a fight if it comes to that and she looks more convincingly college-aged than her Maker.

“Cool,” Willa grins.  “I’ll email Mallory, then.”

 

* * *

 

By the time Willa sends her old roommate a message, the others have all joined her in the study, and Pam saunters over crooning something about how Willa really oughta pick out a couple things to wear to the party, Pam’s treat.  There’s no way it’s gonna get shipped overnight, but they make sure it’s in stock nearby, and while the website’s up all of the women do a little bit of browsing around and make a shopping list. 

Even Nora gets into it for a few minutes before Eric tugs her off to discuss logistics, which also means they’re going off to fuck; Pam and Tara retire not long after with the same intention, and Jessica goes to draw herself a bubble bath, which means that Willa’s left alone and a little confused until Nora reemerges, padding back into the room and now wearing nothing but Eric’s sweater.

“Hey,” Willa says, like this is all totally normal.  She’s just glad the rooms down here are pretty soundproofed.

“Hello,” Nora replies, trying not to sound too uncomfortable.  “I’m just waiting on laundry.”

“Right,” Willa nods.  “Did you wanna talk about all that… Bill stuff?”

“It’s not that I want to so much as I need to,” Nora sighs, curling up on the couch with her feet tucked underneath her.  “Come sit?”

So Willa does.  And with just a little bit more prompting, Nora gets into the whole mess.  The Authority and Lilith and all of it (or almost all of it: the role she played, yes, but the reasons she played it, no).  And Willa doesn’t say anything, she just listens, nodding along every so often, her expression (blessedly) neutral.  She won’t pretend to understand all of it, but she’s not judging.

And that’s sort of nice, Nora realizes.  Nice enough that once she hears the dryer beep and goes to retrieve her jacket, she finds herself returning to the study instead of taking her leave of her niece for the night.

“There’s still a little while until sunrise,” Nora says hesitantly, because she isn’t great at this but it occurs to her that it’s wise to try.  “If there was anything else you wanted to ask me?  Things that Eric didn’t explain?”

“Yeah,” Willa agrees.  “He said you’re my aunt now?”

That wasn’t exactly the sort of thing Nora had been thinking of, but it’s an easier question to answer than some.  “I am,” she confirms.  “Eric is my vampire brother.  We were made by the same vampire, just as Eric made both you and Pamela.”

“Oh,” Willa says.  “Cool.  But vampire siblings aren’t like… regular siblings, it’s not weird that…”

That they fuck.  Nora knows what the hesitation in Willa’s voice means.  “No, it’s not.  No stranger than a Maker and their progeny doing.”

“Oh,” Willa repeats.  “Like Pam and Tara.”

“Yes,” Nora nods.  “It’s not expected – I never fucked my Maker, for example – but it does happen and it's perfectly all right.  Like with Pam and Tara.”

“Huh.”  There’s a pause, and it’s clear that Willa’s trying to find something, anything more to talk about.  She’s got a thing about getting to know someone as soon as possible if the opportunity presents itself, it just seems like the best choice.  The only thing that’s coming to mind is dumb and she knows it, but it slips out anyway.  “So you’re from England?”

“Surrey, in fact,” Nora says.  “It’s one of the counties surrounding London.”  She’s never understood what possesses someone to mention her or anyone else’s place of origin, it’s really fairly obvious, like saying “oh, you have blue eyes,” but she can manage.

“When?” Willa asks.  “I mean, like, medieval times?  Like King Arthur and stuff?  I loved that in school, all the stories and poetry.”

She’s enthusiastic, Nora has to give her that much.  “No, not quite,” she smiles, in spite of herself adding, “I assume they taught you about the Black Death?”

Willa’s eyes widen as she puts two and two together.  “Seriously?” she exclaims.

Nora nods.  She’s not sure why she’s sharing this, she hasn’t done in centuries, but maybe it’s meant as comfort?  _Look, you too can adjust?_   She’s so, so awful with babies.  “Yes, seriously,” she says.  “I was dying when Eric and Godric found me and saved me.”  A beat.  “Pardon how horribly damsely that sounded.”

Willa giggles, but only for a moment.  “Nah, I get it,” she shrugs.  “And there’s no shame in letting someone rescue you if you’re in no condition to rescue yourself.  Anyway.”  And her expression turns mischievous in a way she’s clearly not used to being.  “I bet you saved their asses a couple times, too.”

“A couple times,” Nora agrees.  Absently, she fusses with the end of one of the braids she very gamely hasn’t taken out of her hair, though they’ve come frayed from her and Eric’s quickie.  “There was this – well, it wasn’t a _mob_ , properly, it was just a small group of angry citizens, in Belfast, and –”

“What?” Willa asks eagerly.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Nora says suddenly.  “There’s not much point to telling it right now, anyway.  Some night, maybe.  Once…”  _Once all this is over_.  “Well, we can all sit around telling embarrassing stories about each other.”

She’s surprised to find that she means it, too.  And it’s certainly nice having something to look forward to, even if it is abstract.


End file.
